Lost Soul
by Power9987
Summary: Mito is doing her chores one day, thinking about how Gon is doing, when she stumbles upon a small boy in the woods near her home. Concerned for the child, she takes him in and attempts to find his parents. Meanwhile, Gon and Killua have just finished their Nen training at Heaven's Arena and are heading home.


**A/N: Hello everyone! This is my very first attempt at a Hunter x Hunter story! I became obsessed with this anime recently and have just now gotten to writing a fic. While I have some ideas for this story, I don't have a hard outline as of yet. I'm mainly posting this now to gauge interest in this idea.**

 **I have surprisingly not seen this story idea as of yet, so I decided to give it a go. I am a huge sucker for sibling relationships, so I many of the stories I read and write have a huge sibling component to it. That is what this story will mainly focus on: how would the story change if Gon had a younger brother?**

 **Please let me know what you think of my pilot of this story! Reviews are appreciated!**

 **Thank you and enjoy!**

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Prologue

She hums, folding up the bed sheets on the clothesline. The chore is rather soothing for the young woman of her early thirties. It helps calm her nerves about what might be happening to her son overseas…

And that just ruined her tranquil mood.

Sighing, she takes the pins from the nearest bed sheet and starts the menial chore of folding it up for storage. Gon may not be her son by blood, but damn anyone who says he's not her son in heart! Her good-for-nothing cousin just up-and-abandoned him in her arms ten years ago, when Gon was just a mere toddler. When Ging left, her son had bawled his little eyes out for _hours_ until he fell asleep exhausted.

And now Gon has left on a path to find that pathetic father of a man!

She scowls just thinking about it. There was a reason that she kept the truth about what really happened to Gon's parents a secret from him as soon as she realized that he didn't remember them at all. She wanted to prevent this very thing from happening! She didn't want Gon to go off on his own, following in his father's footsteps. At least not at such a young age.

But that's what happened. Once he was saved by that man Kite and found out the truth about his father, Gon was determined to set out and take the Hunter Exam once he was old enough. And she knows better than anyone that once that boy had his mind set on something, nothing will stop him from accomplishing his goals. He is definitely the most stubborn boy on the face of the Earth.

And that makes her worried as heck! After all, that stubborn streak could get him into serious trouble. She knows from the letter that she got from her son after he finally passed the exam that while he passed the exam because he was incredibly hardheaded, he also almost got himself killed! She shudders at that thought, dropping her current sheet in the process.

After all, what would she do if he never came back like Ging…

Her vision becomes blurry. She wipes her eyes furiously, trying to keep her emotions in check. Dammit! She can't think like that! Gon may be Ging's son, but he's also her son as well. The young woman knows that he would never leave her and her grandmother for good. She knows that he'll come back.

And that day cannot come soon enough. Mito smiles at the thought. Yes, she can't wait to see her son again. She can picture it now: Gon running up the path, waving with both arms and announcing that he's home with that warm, youthful tone of voice of his. He'll hug her tight, probably from a half a foot higher from the ground than when he left. She can't wait to look into those bright, caramel eyes of his that are always shimmering with excitement.

A sudden gust of wind snaps her out of her, rather mind-consuming, thoughts. The bed sheet that she just dropped starts flying off into the distance. Cursing, Mito trots after the damned sheet. She laments the fact that she will have to wash it again once she gets her hands back on it.

Finally! She caught up to the blasted sheet. As she moves to pick it up though, she hears a ruffling in a nearby bush. The woman backs away slowly, wide-eyed as she knows what kind of animals can be in the woods of this island. While not completely in the woods, her house is a good day's walk from the bustling port. However, before she can ponder the thought further, a figure makes its way out of the bush. She is startled to find that it's not a dangerous animal of some sort…

But a young boy!

Eyes widening further, but now not in fear—but concern—she quickly makes her way over to the child as he starts falling backwards. Thankfully, Mito is agile enough to get to the boy quickly and catch him in her arms before he hits the ground. Appearing stunned, the boy peers his wide, innocent brown eyes up at her before finally passing out.

Mito's heartbeat starts racing in panic as she presses her index and middle fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse. She lets out a sigh of relief when she feels a fairly strong and consistent 'doki-doki' from the young boy. The young aunt takes this moment to look over the child's disheveled appearance.

The boy can't be more than eight years old from the looks of it. While his arms and legs have some scratches, there really is nothing too serious about his injuries. Of course that could change if they aren't treated and disinfected. The boy is rather small and skinny for his apparent age, although she can tell that it is just probably his genetics and not from any sort of nutritional neglect. It's also possible that he may be younger than she thinks since she wasn't able to talk to him and find out his age.

Actually, now that she looks at the boy closer, he reminds her of a younger Gon, only a bit skinnier and with longer hair. Those eyes of his were also very reminiscent of her adopted son when she saw them for a moment earlier. However, this boy's skin tone is a lot lighter than that of hers or Gon's. The young woman doesn't recognize the boy's clothes from any tailor on Whale Island either. She concludes that he's probably not from the island itself.

She frowns at that. Poor boy! He must have gotten separated from his parents at the port and went the wrong direction in trying to find his way back. It's actually quite impressive that a boy this young who is not native to the island was able to get this far through the forest without any injuries other than a few minor scratches. It's definitely not an easy path to get here for someone who doesn't know the right way to go. This boy must have been out here for a few days at least!

Finally, she lifts the child into her arms. She smiles slightly when he unconsciously wraps his tiny arms around her neck to keep ahold of her. She's glad that he apparently feels comfortable with her. Quickly, yet carefully as to not wake up the child in her arms, she makes her way back to her house. She can't help but smile larger at the nostalgia carrying this child home gives her. She's lost count of how many times she's done this for Gon once the energetic boy had tuckered himself out after exploring in the woods for hours on end.

Eventually, Mito makes her way inside her 'tree house' as she affectionately calls it. The young woman walks down the hallway and up the stairs to Gon's bedroom, where she gently lays the little boy in her arms on the freshly cleaned bed. As she tries to get up though, she realizes that the boy's arms still haven't let go of her neck. It takes a few tries, but eventually she is able to free herself from the child's grasp. The boy starts whimpering softly at the sudden loss of contact.

Mito's heart breaks at the sight. She has always been a softie for kids, and this young boy reminds her so much of Gon that her maternal instincts for him are triple what they normally are. Sighing, she picks up the boy again, smiling again at how quickly the little boy wraps his arms around her neck once he recognizes her contact. She melts at the little content sigh the boy releases as well.

He is such a cutie!

She decides to go to go back downstairs and hand the boy off to her Grandmother. Surely if he is reacting so well to her touch he'll also enjoy the loving embrace of Abe. Her grandmother is one of the sweetest people she's ever met!

Nodding her head to herself in confirmation of her decision, she quickly goes to do just that. She smiles a bit wider at the thought of Grandmother's reaction to the boy. She will surly be surprised by his presence. The kind lady will probably want to cuddle the boy like no tomorrow, especially since he resembles little Gon so much. Hopefully she won't wake him up though. The boy is probably exhausted from traveling such a long distance in an unfamiliar place.

She frowns once more at that thought as she makes her way into the living room of the home. His poor parents must be worried sick! As soon as she gives the boy over to Abe, she's going to contact Social Services to help find them. She can only imagine what would be going through her mind something similar had happened to Gon.

That is definitely not a pretty thought.

"Mito, dear. Who is that child that you have there?"

The young woman is barely able to hold back a startled yelp. Apparently she was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't notice that she even entered the living room where Abe was sitting. Blushing lightly from her lack of attention, she turns towards her grandmother. She smiles at the concerned, but bright look in the elder's eyes. "Hello Grandmother. I actually found this boy in the woods when I was chasing after one of the bed sheets that blew off the line in the wind."

"Oh my!" is her concerned reply. "How is he!? I hope he's not too hurt."

"He looks a bit scratched up, but nothing too serious thankfully." Mito quickly pacifies her grandmother. "However, he fainted from exhaustion as soon as I found him. Right now, I want to just clean his scrapes and let him rest."

Abe nods at that response. Getting out of her knitting chair, she slowly walks over to the younger woman carrying the lost child, examining the boy. "Yeah, he doesn't appear to be too worse for wear, other than the dirt and condition of his clothes. I really want to give him a bath, but your right. It's probably better that he gets rest right now. Still, I think we should clean those scratches before they get infected."

"Your right Grandmother. Do you want to do that while I call Social Services? I don't think he's from the Island at all, so he probably got separated from his parents at the port."

Abe takes another good look at the sleeping boy before nodding. "Yeah, you're probably right. It's impressive that he made it all the way here." The kind grandmother then smiles, holding out her arms in a gesture to take the boy. "Go on and make that call. The sooner he can reunite with his parents the better. You leave those scratches to me. I know just how to clean them without waking him up."

Mito smiles at that last statement. She knows all too well that her grandmother is right. After all, she was the one who cared for her and Ging after they got all scratched up from exploring the woods, and later Gon as well. She starts to gently remove the arms of her neck, frowning slightly when he won't budge. She then gets the idea to have her grandmother support the child's body while she starts to undo his arms. She hopes that he will unconsciously recognize the loving embrace and latch to Abe on his own.

She grins when the boy does exactly that. As soon as Grandmother has her arms around the boy, he lets go of Mito and switches to Abe. She barely is able to hold back a coo at the sight, instead allowing her grandmother to take the young child towards the bathroom. The elder woman appears content to do the task, her eyes almost overflowing with tenderness towards the young life in her arms as she walks away.

Mito shakes her head. She needs to focus on her task at hand: finding that young boy's parents. The young woman scurries out of the living room and toward the kitchen where her phone is. She has a call to Social Services to make.


End file.
